Resilient Pallet Protector Gripping Structures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pallet protectors often reduce the size of pallet openings, making alignment difficult and increasing the risk of the protector shifting during lifting due to manufacturing tolerances and clearance issues, which can lead to improper fitting and instability.
Innovation Solution
A pallet protector with resilient gripping structures extending from a flexible faceplate that can bend to facilitate fitting and secure attachment to the pallet, minimizing intrusion into openings and accommodating variations in pallet dimensions, while corner locators assist in precise placement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the outside dimensions of the walls are reduced to accommodate minimum pallet opening sizes, then the protector can fit smaller pallets, but the opening size is further reduced and clearance increases causing alignment difficulty and movement
Solution Approach 1:
The gripping structures are designed to be resilient and movable, allowing them to adapt dynamically to variations in pallet dimensions. The structures can flex and adjust their position to maintain proper engagement with the pallet blocks, rather than being fixed at minimum dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state of the gripping structures from rigid to resilient, allowing them to deform elastically. This enables the same structure to accommodate a range of pallet sizes while maintaining precise alignment through the resilient contact with pallet blocks.
2Adaptability or versatility
If clearance is increased to accommodate manufacturing tolerances, then the protector can fit more pallet variations, but movement between protector and pallet increases making alignment difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The gripping structures have different properties at different locations: they are resilient where they contact the pallet blocks to accommodate tolerances, but maintain structural rigidity in their overall form to provide stability. This localized differentiation of properties resolves the contradiction between tolerance accommodation and stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The gripping structures transition from a static, fixed-position design to a dynamic, resilient design that can flex and adapt to pallet variations while maintaining stable engagement through elastic deformation rather than rigid clearance.
3Strength
If top and side walls are extended to protect the pallet, then protection is improved, but the opening size is reduced below acceptable levels
Solution Approach 1:
The protective function is extracted from the main faceplate structure and implemented separately through resilient gripping structures that engage with the pallet blocks. This allows the faceplate to maintain large openings while protection is provided by the separate gripping elements that contact the pallet periphery.
Solution Approach 2:
The protector is segmented into a faceplate portion and separate gripping structures. The faceplate provides the protective barrier while the gripping structures provide the protective engagement with the pallet, allowing each component to optimize its function without compromising the other.
4Ease of manufacture
If fixed-dimensional walls are used to ensure fitment, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but the protector cannot accommodate pallet variations within tolerances
Solution Approach 1:
The gripping structures are manufactured with resilient properties that allow them to deform within a specified range. This single manufacturing approach with controlled material properties accommodates dimensional variations without requiring multiple sizes or complex adjustment mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The use of resilient materials with specific elastic properties allows the gripping structures to accommodate dimensional variations. The material composition provides both the structural integrity needed for manufacture and the flexibility needed for adaptation to pallet tolerances.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution ensures secure and stable attachment of the protector to the pallet, reducing the risk of shifting during use and allowing for proper alignment without obstructing the pallet openings, thus enhancing the protector's durability and ease of installation.
Implementation Method 1
the faceplate is resiliently flexible and arranged so that bending the faceplate causes two gripping structures to move together or apart to facilitate fitting the protector to the pallet, and releasing the faceplate allows it to return towards its original configuration
Data Source
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AI summary
A pallet protector (6) having a faceplate and two or more gripping structures (20, 21) extending from the faceplate resiliently to grip a pallet to which the protector is fitted. Inner and outer pairs of gripping structures may be provided, disposed at opposite sides respectively of adjacent openings in the protector. The protector may be formed from a resilient material. Flexing the faceplate so that it is convex between the inner pair of structures separates the structures facilitating their insertion into adjacent openings in a pallet either side of a centre block. Flexing the faceplate so that it is concave between the outer and inner pairs of gripping structures brings the outer pairs of gripping structures towards each other facilitating their insertion into adjacent openings in a pallet between outer blocks of the pallet. Allowing the faceplate to return towards its original configuration then urges the gripping structures into contact with the pallet.